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VELOGIPEDB.

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No. 327,125. Patented Sept. 29, 1885.

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UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFIGE.

AARON VREELAND, OF CEDAR GROVE, NEV JERSEY.

VELOCIPEDE.

EPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 327,125, dated September 29, 1885.

Application filed March 17, 1885.

T 0 (on whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, AARON VREELAND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cedar Grove, Essex county, New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Velocipedes, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention consists in an improved coustruction for the frame of a velocipede, whereby is disclai med therein to be secured in the present application.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is askeleton side View of the lower part of the frame. Fig. 3 is a plan of the entire machine; Fig. 4, a detached plan of the treadle-lever,enlarged and Fig. 5, an end view of the same, to show the shape of the stirrup.

The driving-wheel A is located in the center of the frame,with the seat over it, and the front and rear pairs of wheels are much smaller, and are supported at the ends of transverse axles of sufficient length to steady the ma chine sidewise.

The whole frame consists of four auxiliary parts or framesviz., two middle parts, B B, which are horizontally jointed to the drivingwheel axle G, and separate front and rear parts, D E,which are vertically jointed to the parts B B.

D E are the front and rear axles, and D E the wheels at their ends. The frame B is double, and fitted to the axle G at opposite sides of the wheel A, and is shown formed at each side of a half-circle felly of wood, having its middle point provided with a me tallic bearing, k, bolted thereto and fitted up on the axle 0 between the wheel A and the (No model.)

treadle-lever. The outer ends of each felly project toward the front of the wheel, and curve, respectively, upward and downward, and are bolted to vertical bars G, which are joined by cross-pieces H near their tops and bottoms. To these crossbars are fixed vertical pins or bolts-i, and the front frame, D, constructed like the parts G and H, is pivoted thereto, andhas the front axle, D, secured near its lower end by clips a.

The frame B and the rear frame, E, are exactly similar to the frames B and D, but project in the opposite direction from the axle C, so that the driving-wheel stands midway between the front and rear wheels. The rear axle is clamped to the frame E by clips (1, and the wheels D E are shown as constructed to follow the same track and to match an ordinary wagon-rut or horse-car track, if de sired.

The seat F is sustained by two posts at each side of the wheel, the front posts, a, being braced to the seat at c, and bolted to the frame B at c", and the rear posts, (Z, being jointed to the seat and to the frame B at d.

Steering mechanism is attached to both the front and rear frames, D and E, either of which the rider may use at his pleasure. The front frame, D, has a steering-handle, t, bolted to it and projected toward the seat, so as to be within reach of the operator, and is thus turned upon the pivot between the frames B and D, to guide the whole machine in the required manner.

To turn the. rear wheels in the required direction simultaneously with the front ones, the front and rear frames, D E, are connected by cords j, which are attached, respectively, to the opposite sides of the frames and carried over pulleys in upon the edges of the rear frame. Crossbars a are affixed to the frames to attach the cords and pulleys; but the latter could be affixed directly to the axles D E, if desired.

Cords 19 are shown in Fig. 1 attached to the front axle and carried around the rear axle to the rear of the seat F, where they are tied to hooks r. These cords are intended to draw the front and rear axles slightly together at times, to relieve the wheel A of some of the riders weight. The cord produces this effect by turning the frames B and B around on the shaft 0, so that if the rider is on a very smooth and level road he can make the smaller wheels carry the greater part of his weight, and thus diminish the frictional resistance of the large wheel upon the ground.

The rear frame, E, has two bars, 6 e, bolted to each of its upper corners and projected to ward the rear side of the seat, where they are secured to curved pieces f, which encircle the riders body, and serve both to support his back and to form a steering device, which can be operated by the pressure of his elbows, or by swaying his body from side to side. Steering-bars t are also joined to the front frame, D, and extended backward.

The driving-wheel is propelled by treadlelevers Z, having pawls m, adapted to catch upon the teeth of ratchet-wheels a, secured to the outer ends of the axle 0, one at each sideof the wheel A.

Each treadle-lever is composed of two flat bars, (lettered Z in the enlarged plan view in Fig. 4,) one being journaled upon the axle C at each side of the ratchet-wheel, and the pawl at being pivoted between the same by bolt.

The stirrup is formed by securing a leather strap, 8, to two plates, 1', which are pivoted to the outer ends of the bars at Z, the toe of the operator fitting between the leverl and the strap, and lifting the lever up by the strap before each stroke of the pawl.

The plates 1' may be joined at their ends, beyond the pivot Z, by a crossbar, 1", to sustain the foot of the operator; or the latter may rest only on the edges of the plates when pressing downward.

WVith the construction shown the whole machine is self-adjusting to all inequalities in the road, as the seat is held in a uniform relation to the frame B by the braces a, while the pivoted connections of the posts (Z and the flexible character of the joint (which connects the frame B with the frame B) renders the frames B and B capable of vertical motion around the make C, to which they are journaled by their middle bearings, 76. By the use of two bars, 25, for the treadle-levers the treadle is prevented from twisting sidewise, and one can be placed at each side of the pawl-and-ratchet wheel and the pressing-strain be entirely central. The rider may steer by the front bars,

t, or by them and the yokefjointly.

The frames B B may obviously be made in other forms, and of any desired material, that shown herein being the one preferred by me, but not essential to the practice of my invention, which consists, essentially, in the four frames hinged to move as described.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim is 1. In a velocipede, the combination, with the axle of a central driving-wheel, of the frames B and B, hinged to such axle and provided with wheels resting freely upon the ground, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a velocipede, the combination, with the aXle of a central driving-wheel, of the frames B and B, hinged to such axle and provided with wheels resting freely upon the ground, the front wheels being sustained by a vertically-hinged frame provided with means for turning it to steer the machine, substan' tially as shown and described.

3. In a Velocipede, the combination, with the wheel A, axle G, and frames B B, hinged thereto and provided with wheels resting freely upon the ground, of the seat F, rigidly attached to one of said frames, and secured to the other by a yielding connection, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a velocipede having a central drivingwheel and front and rear axles with two wheels each, the construction for the jointed frame, consisting in the half-circle fellies B B, hinged to the driving-wheel axle as described, and attached to uprights G, the cross-pieces H, provided with the joint-bolts 13, and the vertical front and rear frames, D E, carrying the axles D E and wheels D E the whole arranged and operated substantially as shown and described.

5. The combination, with the ratchet-wheel and pawl, of the lever-bars arranged at each side of the wheel and pawl and provided with the stirrup hinged at its outer end, as and for the purpose set forth.

6. The combination, with the frames B B, D, and E, and the seat F, and wheels A, D and E arranged as described, of the steering devices projected from the front and rear frames toward the seat, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

AARON VREELAND.

Witnesses:

Trros. S. CRANE, L. LEE. 

